


I'm No Hero, But I Could Be

by WednesdaysDaughter



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, BAMF Stiles, I can alreay tell I'm going to hate tagging my stuff, M/M, subtle shipping, the calm before the storm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-22
Updated: 2013-02-22
Packaged: 2017-12-03 05:34:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/694727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WednesdaysDaughter/pseuds/WednesdaysDaughter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It’s too much to think about billions of strangers who will never know he existed. Instead Stiles focuses on the handful of people standing tall and tense in the remnants of a once great home."</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'm No Hero, But I Could Be

**Author's Note:**

> So, this was basically meant to indulge in my Stiles feelings. The Derek/Stiles isn't in your face, but it's subtle and warm and I kinda feel like that's how their relationship would be in a situation like this. Really though, it's all about Stiles because he is awesome and I love him.

Stiles doesn’t want to save the world.

For all those times he would silently pout over the fact that Scott got to be Batman when they were playing pretend in his back yard, Stiles has always known he’s not the hero of this story. Some days, he’s not even fit to be the sidekick, but someone’s got to look out for his best friend even if it takes more to knock Scott down these days.

Some nights he dreams about hits that keep coming and Stiles wakes up choking on his pain and the fear that he’s more like Jason Todd than Dick Grayson and it makes his stomach churn. Red always was his color though – long before he stumbled through the woods with wolves.

Stiles wants to earn back his father’s fragile trust and keep Scott alive until graduation. He wants to revise his five-year plan and not freak out when the main variable switches from Lydia to someone else. He wants to stop feeling like he’s being watched without knowing who was creeping around dark corners and breathing on his window. He wants to stand on solid ground again without the dead rising and people he cares about disappearing.

Scott doesn’t say anything when he drops by and sees that Stiles is sitting at his desk with a pile of energy drinks scattered across the floor. If it’s not one thing it’s another and Stiles has somehow became the Willow of their group – searching through dusty books and poorly designed websites for answers to questions he hasn’t been asked yet. Scott also doesn’t comment on the familiar scent of Derek lingering in the air, a scent that never seems to fade from his room, and Stiles loves him for it.

He talks to Deaton and watches Isaac dodge attack after attack during training. He listens to Latin on the nights he feels stable enough to sleep and he goes to the range after his Dad sees bruises he fails to hide. He quizzes Lydia on the different kinds of wolfsbane and when he’s finally able to talk to Allison again, she arms him with a couple knives and a taser: She refuses to teach him archery though and Stiles wholeheartedly agrees. It isn’t much, but it’s enough to where Stiles doesn’t look over his shoulder when he’s late-night grocery shopping. He starts to even out, though he’s still weary of Peter and with the looks everyone gives the once-dead killer, he’s obviously not the only one. Derek pours over maps with Stiles and Deaton hands over a bat carved from a mountain ash tree that was decades old.

Stiles works on believing and as the days slowly trickle by, his smiles feel less forced.

It’s too much to think about billions of strangers who will never know he existed. Instead Stiles focuses on the handful of people standing tall and tense in the remnants of a once great home. Looking around the room, a sense of readiness settles in Stiles’ bones as his eyes lock with Derek’s. There are a million words in that look and Stiles doesn’t need to hear a single one: He already knows. When Scott knocks their shoulders together and pulls Stiles from his thoughts, he grins softly at his best friend and laughs when Scott rolls his eyes. Stiles’ mind quiets and settles as he grips the bat tightly in his dry hand. Everyone is still and Stiles can almost hear the snapping of twigs outside the door – signaling the battle is about to begin.

Stiles doesn’t want to save the world.

That doesn’t mean he isn’t prepared to.


End file.
